Guanqiu Jian and Wen Qin's Rebellion 毌丘儉文欽之亂

Guanqiu Jian was on close terms with Xiahou Xuan, Li Feng and others. Wen Qin, Inspector of Yang Province and General of the Front, was from the same town as Cao Shuang; brave and fierce, he had won merit in many battles, but because he inflated the numbers of his captures in hopes of rewards, they were mostly not granted, and his resentment deepened day by day. Guanqiu Jian treated him generously, and the two became very close. In the 1st month of the 2nd year of Zhengyuan (255), when a comet several dozen zhang long stretched across the sky to the northwest, rising from the celestial field of Wu and Chu, the two took it as an auspicious omen for themselves. Records, Wei 28 §20–21

On the yichou day of the 1st month the two rose in revolt. Forging an edict of the Empress Dowager, they circulated to the commanderies and kingdoms a document listing the crimes of the General-in-Chief Sima Shi, forced the commanders of Huainan, those guarding the various outposts, and the officials and people all to enter the city of Shouchun, then built an altar west of the city and swore an oath, smearing their lips with blood. Leaving the old and weak to guard the city, the two crossed the Huai River with 50,000 to 60,000 men and reached Xiang County to the west, where Guanqiu Jian held fast while Wen Qin acted as a mobile force outside. The envoy they sent to rally the officials and people of Yu Province was beheaded by Zhuge Dan, who proclaimed it to the realm, and Deng Ai also beheaded an envoy who had come to sow confusion among the troops. Records, Wei 4 §54Records, Wei 28 §21 · 32 · 62

On the wuyin day Sima Shi set out on the campaign in person. Some said it would be enough to send the Grand Commandant Sima Fu, but Fu Gu and Wang Su urged him to go himself. Sima Shi led the armies of the capital and the provinces, had Zhuge Dan aim at Shouchun from Anfeng Ford with the troops of Yu Province, had the General Who Conquers the East Hu Zun go out between Qiao and Song with the troops of Qing and Xu provinces to cut off the rebels' way home, and himself stationed at Ruyang. The Army Supervisor Wang Ji, meeting Sima Shi at Xuchang, said that the rebellion in Huainan was not what the officials and people wanted, and that when the great army drew near they would scatter like crumbling earth. Records, Wei 4 §54Records, Wei 21 §95Records, Wei 28 §22Records, Wei 27 §60

Sima Shi ordered the various armies to hold their walls firmly and not to fight. Wang Ji repeatedly asked to advance, and when Sima Shi, who wanted to wait for the armies to gather, did not permit it, he said, "When a general is with the army, there are commands of his sovereign he does not accept," and promptly seized Nandun. Guanqiu Jian and the others, setting out from Xiang County toward Nandun, heard that Wang Ji had arrived first and went back to hold Xiang County. Unable to fight if they advanced and fearing an attack on Shouchun if they withdrew, the two were at the end of their resources, and the commanders and soldiers of Huainan, whose families were all in the north, surrendered one after another. Records, Wei 28 §22–23Records, Wei 27 §61–64

Sima Shi had Deng Ai, Inspector of Yan Province, go to Lejia with over 10,000 troops from Taishan and feign weakness to lure the enemy. Not knowing this, Wen Qin came by night to attack Deng Ai, but at dawn, seeing the strength of the great army that Sima Shi had brought in person, he turned back, and Sima Shi pursued him with swift cavalry and heavily defeated him. The Annals of the Three Young Emperors record that Wen Qin was defeated at Lejia on the jihai day of the intercalary month. Deng Ai pursued Wen Qin as far as Qiutou, and Wang Ji, taking advantage of the division of the enemy's strength, pressed Xiang County. Records, Wei 28 §23–24 · 62Records, Wei 4 §54Records, Wei 27 §64

That day Guanqiu Jian, hearing that Wen Qin had been defeated, fled in fear by night, and his forces collapsed. By the time he reached Shen County his followers had gradually left him, and Guanqiu Jian hid in the grass by the water with his young brother Guanqiu Xiu and his grandson Guanqiu Zhong, but was shot dead by Zhang Shu, a man under the jurisdiction of the Commandant of Anfeng Ford. On the jiachen day his head was sent to the capital, and Guanqiu Xiu and Guanqiu Zhong fled to Wu. His son Guanqiu Dian, who had fled beforehand with the family to Mount Ling at Xin'an, was also overcome, and Guanqiu Jian's three sets of kin were exterminated. The officers and soldiers who had been coerced all came back and surrendered, and on the renzi day Wei granted a special pardon to the gentry and commoners of Huainan. Records, Wei 28 §24–25Records, Wei 4 §54

Wen Qin fled to Wu, where he became Protector-General, Senior General Who Guards the North and Governor of You Province, and was enfeoffed as Marquis of Qiao. According to the Biographies of the Three Successor Rulers in the Records of Wu, on the renchen day of the intercalary month Sun Jun set out with the General of Agile Cavalry Lü Ju and the General of the Left Liu Zan to make a surprise attack on Shouchun, and at Dongxing heard that Wen Qin and the others had been defeated; on the renyin day, when he advanced to Tuogao, Wen Qin came to surrender, and tens of thousands of the remaining people of Huainan fled to him. The more than 100,000 people in Shouchun, fearing execution, broke open the city gates and scattered, and as Zhuge Dan entered Shouchun first, Sun Jun could not attack the city and withdrew. Jiang Ban, sent by Zhuge Dan, pursued and beheaded Liu Zan, and Zhuge Dan became Senior General Who Guards the East and again commanded Yang Province. Sima Shi died at Xuchang. Records, Wei 28 §27 · 32–33Records, Wu 3 §9–10Records, Wei 4 §55–56

In his assessment Chen Shou said that Guanqiu Jian was outstanding in talent and insight and capable, but that he, together with Wang Ling, Zhuge Dan and Zhong Hui, had great ambitions but misguided aims and failed to foresee disaster, so that upheaval broke out like the release of a crossbow trigger and their clans were crushed into the earth. Records, Wei 28 §140